Rochester’s former Saputo dairy factory could soon have a new lease on life — with several industries looking at the substantial Moore St site.
The property has been on the market through Colliers for almost four months, with an asking price of $3.25 million.
Colliers managing director for Bendigo Travis Hurst said interest in the site had come from a range of potential buyers, including a logistics group, food manufacturer and agricultural operators.
A separate source confirmed the building had been sold to a global business with foreign ownership — with the factory’s dairy processing equipment being stripped from the site.
The source said the decision was linked to Saputo not wanting competitors to benefit from the existing dairy processing equipment.
The buyer is understood to have acquired the property specifically with the intention of removing it and selling it on the global market.
While the site is no longer considered viable as a dairy processing facility, Mr Hurst said its existing infrastructure could make it suitable for a new industry.
“The building and the infrastructure of the factory are all perfectly usable,” he said.
“The gas and electrical systems, storm drains and loading ramps can all be re-utilised for a new industry, but it won’t be for dairy.”
The Saputo dairy operation ended in 2018, leaving a large industrial site with substantial infrastructure available for redevelopment.
Mr Hurst said prospective buyers had recognised the potential to transform the site and bring new jobs back to Rochester.
“The commercial reality is the factory is not viable as a dairy factory anymore,” he said.
“There’s not enough dairy in the area to sustain it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t welcome a new industry.”
He said the prospect of repurposing the site was one of the reasons it remained attractive to prospective buyers.
The potential transformation mirrors another regional manufacturing site — the former Heinz factory at Girgarre sold by Colliers in July for redevelopment as a food manufacturing and processing facility.
The Girgarre site had been dormant since Heinz closed its operation in January 2012, ending the company’s 70 years of tomato processing in Australia and costing 146 local jobs.
Mr Hurst said the Girgarre site demonstrated the potential for existing industrial infrastructure to be given a second life.
“It’s a great example of repurposing a site, giving it a new lease of life.”
Although the dairy equipment is being removed, the remaining infrastructure could provide the foundations for a new operation.
For Rochester, that could mean more than filling an empty factory.
It could mean new jobs for the town.
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